Social Media

If you focus on the statistics, Facebook has been losing its popularity as the top social media platform for the last 12 months. In 2017 the number of 12-17 year old demographic dropped for the first time – but dropped by a significant 10%.

There are a number of reasons for the decline (not least the Cambridge Analytica debacle and the increased promotion of “fake news”) , but talk to the younger generation and Facebook has been losing its cool factor for some years now.

Youngsters have more options than ever before for staying in touch with friends and family. Which explains why Snapchat and Instagram, which offer features for sharing photos and videos that disappear, are growing in popularity.

The days of parks taking advantage of organic reach on Facebook Business Pages, without any paid advertising, are long gone as we make our way into 2018. Getting seen on this platform is about to get a lot harder.

Last year, Facebook announced a major change to its news feed algorithm. No longer will it prioritise “helping you find relevant content”, said the site’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The new goal is to help you “have more meaningful interactions”.

In the past, most people’s Facebook feeds were dominated by professionally made content from brands, businesses and the news media. Zuckerberg says Facebook wants to change that balance. So posts from friends and family, as well as Facebook groups you are a member of will instead dominate your feed.

Top Tips for using Facebook in 2019

  • Focus your posts that naturally encourage reactions in some way (conversations, comments, likes, and shares) because Facebook will take those indicators into consideration.
  • Stop using “Like & Share” posts and;
    • Try and create posts that encourage conversations between your followers e.g. what do you think about?
    • You can encourage their current followers to choose to “See First” (but **Note – There is a low chance of getting more than a very tiny amount of people doing this.)
  • Quality / Not Quantity – Post less instead of more – Posts that get little to no engagement will be more detrimental to any chances you have at getting future organic Reach.
  • Facebook has put more emphasis on video content in their news feed lately – so use video and Facebook Live – Live videos average 6 times the engagement – add it to your marketing mix. Use it for your events, PR, celebrity interviews
  • It’s time to “pay to play”- but only advertise or promote your most important posts
  • It’s even more critical to make your Facebook adverts the best they can be.
  • Ensure your copy, media, audience, and ad objectives are as precise as possible.
  • Start thinking of Facebook Ads as an alternative to Google Ads
  • Diversify your online marketing mix – Think about shifting some of your time to other social media platforms or other online marketing tasks like email marketing, SEO and/or your blog

More Social Media tips for Holiday Parks

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David Lakins

Dave Lakins is no stranger to the holiday park industry... Read More

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